The two major parties' all-but-certain nominees for Arizona governor are now both on the air with their first television commercials. Each ad is positive in tone and lacking the hard-edged sparring likely to emerge before long.

State Treasurer Dean Martin dropped out of the governor's race July 9, saying he would stand aside and support Gov. Jan Brewer in her battles with the Obama administration and the federal government.
"Governor Brewer is going to need all our help to shoulder the burden of defending Arizona from the federal government. It is our duty to stand together as Arizona residents against an intrusive federal bureaucracy," Martin said in his announcement that he characterized as "suspending" his campaign. "Our state and the residents of Arizona are more important than playing politics."

State Treasurer Dean Martin received Clean Elections money for his gubernatorial campaign after the Secretary of State's Office determined that his $5 qualifying contributions did not contain enough duplicates to prompt a full review.

Gov. Jan Brewer said the majority of illegal immigrants coming into Arizona are being used as drug mules by cartels. “We all know that the majority of the people that are coming to Arizona and trespassing are now becoming drug ...

Dean Martin's troubles with his $5 Clean Elections contributions may not be over yet. Less than a week after Martin submitted his qualifying contributions, the Republican gubernatorial candidate is facing allegations that he collected multiple $5 contributions from at least 128 people, a violation of Clean Elections law that could jeopardize the $707,000 public funding his campaign is slated to receive.

UPDATE: 6:15 P.M. Brewer and Martin spar over each other’s records. Martin hits her for raising property taxes, while Brewer hits back over Martin’s votes for former Gov. Janet Napolitano’s budgets. Both say the other distorted their records. “We have ...